Caring About Student Needs
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As William Glasser suggests in his book Control Theory in the Classroom (1986), "All of our behavior, simple to complex, is our best attempt to control ourselves to satisfy our needs..." Students come into your classroom with a variety of physical, psychological, and intellectual needs. Below is a partial list of students' needs as identified by several authors and educators (Glasser, 1986;Maslow, 1943; Haggart, 2004;MacKenzie, 1996). |
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A culture of respect and rapport supports students' psychological, intellectual, social, and emotional needs.
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Needs for acceptance, belonging, and social relationships influence students’ relationships with the teacher.
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Gender and age affect what student needs are most important.
Teachers who successfully engage students incorporate activities that address students' basic psychological and intellectual needs (Anderman & Midgley, 1998;Brewster & Fager, 2000).
Osterman (2000) conducted an extensive review of research on students' need for belonging. She concluded that student behavior was shaped by their experiences of social acceptance but that schools neglected and even thwarted students' attempts to establish social connections.
Students' sense of belonging (social support and participation) predicts the likelihood of dropping out of high school (Yazejian, 1999). Students' social relationships appear to influence their academic engagement and success at school (Patrick, Anderman, & Ryan, 2002). An important part of that social environment is the degree of teacher support. Teachers who exhibit genuine respect and caring for individual students as well as groups of students will create an environment of respect and rapport.